Lake View tennis team having banner season

Lake View High School seniors Kamerin Mote (left) talks with teammate Sierra Bates during practice Wednesday. The tennis team is off this week but returns to competition next week at home.

Standard-Times photo by Brian Connelly

Longtime coach Brandon Clark can't remember the last time his Lake View High School tennis players had a winning record during the fall team season.

He's done research and can't even find the last time the team advanced to regionals.

Boy, have things changed.

With an 8-3 overall record and 2-1 mark in district, the Lake View tennis players have already secured their first winning season in as long as anyone can remember, and they're one victory away from punching their ticket to regionals.

The team will travel to Snyder on Tuesday for a nondistrict match, but the big one comes Oct. 25 when they host Frenship.

If Lake View wins that one, it's headed to regionals.

"We're determined to get there this year," senior Kamerin Mote said.

"We've had a great year so far, and it would be topped off if we could go to regionals," Clark said. "They deserve it."

The success for this year's Lake View team comes on the heels of last year's heartbreak, which saw hopes of going to regionals dashed in the narrowest of fashions in a 10-9 loss to Big Spring.

"That's when we thought we were the closest we were ever going to get," senior Sierra Bates said.

Lake View graduated several good players from last year's team, but this year's group came back with a vengeance.

"We really want it. That's what it is," said Vanessa Arredondo, a junior and Lake View's No. 1 girls player. "We don't want to look bad anymore. We want to have a name."

In a show of just how much improvement this year's Lake View team has made, the Chiefs and Maidens walloped Big Spring 14-5 this season.

"We know we can beat people now," said junior Jordan Perez, Lake View's No. 1 boys player. "We just have to keep it up."

"Our attitude is much different this year," Bates said. "We go in wanting to win and expecting to win instead of just going out there to play like we always did.

"That makes a very big difference."

Attitude has been a big key to the success, Clark agreed.

"It's a good group, and I think they like each other. That helps a lot," Clark said. "They watch each other's matches. They cheer for each other."

Except for Arredondo, the girls' side of the Lake View team is made up almost exclusively of seniors, while the boys' side has almost no seniors and includes freshman Nick Diaz, who has risen to No. 3 in singles.

The team success has transformed the Lake View tennis program and the perception of it.

"We're getting our names in the announcements now," Mote said.

"When we play at home now, it's really exciting," Clark said. "We have teachers, administrators, parents coming out, and it's really like a home-court advantage. We have people yelling for us, and that's exciting.

"I think the kids are proud of it."

All that's missing is a win over Frenship, a match that each of the next week's worth of practices will be focused on.

"The biggest part of playing Frenship for us is getting over the fact that they are supposed to win," Clark said. "Frenship has been to regionals I don't know how many years in a row. If we'll just get past that, then we'll be OK.

"In years past, if they played good and we played good, we probably won't win, but we've improved enough that we can feel confident about going into that match."

The Lake View lineup

Here's a look at the Lake View tennis team, which has crafted an 8-3 record this season and can advance to regionals with a win over Frenship next Saturday.